Best setup for macro photography

fernjef · Oct 21, 2011

I Recently bought myself some new equipment in order to try some macro photography. It consists of a Nikon D3100, a AF-S 85 F3.5 macro lens, a 1.4x teleconverter and 3 soligor expansion rings (12mm, 20mm an 36mm) and a Sigma EM-140 DG ringflash. I am a newby to photography but I like to learn about the best set-up in order to get the best Macro pictures. I would love to be able to catch the sharp outlines of the eues of a fly at one time. Can you pro's please help me? Thank you in advance.

Best regards,

Jeffrey

BJF · Oct 21, 2011

NIKKOR 85mm f3.5G is a good macro lens. Do you have tripod for macro shooting?

KmH · Oct 21, 2011

Now you need some half decent tripod legs and a good tripod head that has focusing rails.

Manfrotto 055XPROB Pro Tripod Legs (Black)

Vintec 2-Way Two Way Macro / Micro Adjustment Focus Focusing Rail Japan

If you can afford the good stuff: Gitzo GT2541EX Series 2 Carbon 6x 4 Section G-Lock Explorer Tripod - Replaces GT2540EX (Black)

fotomanjack · Oct 21, 2011

Absolutely a tripod. Get the best one you can afford. My suggestions would be the Manfrotto, Slik, Gioto brands of tripods.

fernjef · Oct 21, 2011

Allthough it is not a manfrotto or gitzo (yet) i will receive a Descent tripod tomorrow. I didn't try the ringflash yet but i find it hard to get a proper DOF so far. Will a ringflash add DOF? And can you help me with the best line-up for the adapters? Does that matters anyway?

mjhoward · Oct 21, 2011

IMO, the tripod is only going to help you for certain things, mostly stationary subjects. If you're trying to take sharp macro photos of a fly, then forget it. By the time you set the tripod down and get it set up, the fly is gone. All you need is a good powerful flash with a very good diffuser. This will allow you to stop down plenty for a larger DOF, bring the ISO down, and get your shutter speed up for stopping motion. Again, this is just my opinion.

Overread · Oct 21, 2011

Well with the flash, lens and teleconverter you've got more than enough gear to get good quality photos that you're after; what you will need is practice, patience and a lot of shooting.

With the setup you have I would put the teleconverter and the lens onto the camera and mount the flash. I would then start things with a rough beginning series of settings of f18, ISO 100, 1/200sec in manual mode whilst leaving the flash in its auto mode.

That gives you a base starting point with settings that will work and should give a decent result.

f18 - a small aperture which should give you the depth of field needed, without suffering from softness due to diffraction; note you might find you can use smaller apertures; though you will lose quality after a while because of diffraction.

ISO 100 - the base ISO for your camera (note as you are on Nikon you might find that ISO 200 is your base ISO if that is the case then use ISO 200) which should give you the least amount of noise in a correctly exposed photo

1/200sec - fastest shutter speed possible with flash (it can also be 1/250sec in some cameras) so that you won't suffer from motion shake blur.

Like this you can make a start - though keep an eye on the exposures as you might find that you need to use some flash exposure compensation if the ringflash is putting out too much/too little light.

Focusing wise put the lens into manual mode and focus using the focusing ring on the lens. Typically you set it to the magnification you want and then move camera and lens closer to the subject until you are in focus.

For finding insects try to get out early in the morning when they are more torpid after the cold night and thus easier to approach. Evenings can also be good times as many roost up to sleep.

Expansions from this point; once you feel more confident consider the following using ideas:
Manual flash powers
Wider apertures for a finer depth of field and a bit more sharpness
Using higher ISOs to render the background more strongly lit (its not unusual for flash based macro shooting to have black backgrounds)
Tripods - tripod macro shooting - as detailed above, is slower macro shooting - more potential for sharpness, but slower to operate
Increasing magnification further - I wouldn't use the extension tubes, instead I'd use the 1.4TC (giving you 1.4:1 already) and then use close up lens attachments - quality ones - such as the Raynox series (eg DCR250).

PS since you already have most of the equipment and this is more a methods discussion I'm moving it into macro.